Cheteshwar Pujara will be under huge pressure in Mumbai Test: Zaheer Khan

According to former India pacer, Zaheer Khan Cheteshwar Pujara will be under massive pressure in the Mumbai Test. The batter has witnessed a rough patch with his willow lately. In the Kanpur Test, he registered scores of 26 and 22 in the first and second innings respectively.

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On the other hand, Ajinkya Rahane too has been struggling with his form. With Virat Kohli returning back to the setup one of the players will have to make way for him. Thus, there have been discussions on who would be dropped from the side with the return of the skipper.

In the first Test, Shreyas Iyer made his Test debut in style by hitting a century in the first innings and then followed it up by a half-century. Owing to his performances, it is unlikely that the side will drop him. Zaheer shed light on the same and asserted that the team would either drop an opener or either one of Pujara or Rahane.

“I think there is a bit more pressure on Pujara and that is not entirely performance-based. Have seen in previous instances that often an opener gets dropped. They might go in a direction and ask whether Pujara can open in these conditions, but there is no denying that there needs to be some shuffling. Iyer should definitely play, there is absolutely no question about it. They either have to drop an opener or drop either one of Pujara or Rahane.

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The middle-order headache for this Test has come after Iyer’s fantastic debut performance. Iyer made good use of his opportunity. ViratKohli is sure to come in, so there needs to be space made in the middle-order," Zaheer told Cricbuzz.